Version 17 - key features

[netmindz]

• realtime review
• New AR model
• LED bus
• New settings UI

[netmindz]

What other items @DedeHai @softhack007 @willmmiles @lost-hope

[DedeHai]

what is realtime review and what do we want to do regarding new settings UI?

[willmmiles]

Things I'd like to finish for v17:

• State-changing web requests on main thread (POC implementation for deferred settings #4808)
• Usermod UI integration (Usermod system improvements (static UI support) #5742)
• Logging system (Log buffer #5583)
• Large effect count ((POC) Large effect count management #5108)
• Ideally, modular bus drivers (Usermod bus type #4123)

[willmmiles]

Re realtime review: the intent is to figure out what we want from the "realtime" subsystem. As I see the relevant data points:

• The current implementation is conceptually either you're in real-time mode, or you're not -- it doesn't mix the two. The "first segment only" toggle muddies the waters considerably.
• Allow use of presets (physical button) when receiving live data #5370 (and similar) show interest in combining real-time color data feeds with WLED control/rendering.
• FPP support (Add FSEQ + FPP usermods for local playback #5641) runs the FSEQ playback engine on WLED under remote live control -- another new combination of local + remote simultaneously.
• One proposal was to make "live data" an effect, so it could be implemented in a way that doesn't conflict with local control. This would also allow live data to be blended with WLED-generated effects (such as overlays or transitions).
• Many current users are leveraging WLED's realtime mode in ways that are latency sensitive (eg. Hyperion or other screen backlighting applications). For those applications, forcing live rendering to pass through WLED's frame update loop would be a step backwards.

So the question on the table is how to thread the needle between "WLED as a blazing fast raw pixel pusher for every protocol and type of LED known to mankind" and "WLED as a powerful rendering and compositing engine that can do anything you want with your color data from any source".

[netmindz]

The UI for settings and settings in general is really clunky to work with. The worst being settings for usermods

Pre AI I spent literally 5 or 6 times the amount of time trying to wrangle the way settings are configured than actually writing the hub75 integration and it's still only half the settings

Yes things got slightly easier with version 16, but the code is still pretty ugly. I only managed to get the PR that refactored the list of led types to be supplied from the bus type past Blaz, which was such hard work I then didn't complete the follow up to make the UI dynamic based on that definition of that LED type, not the convoluted "if this and not that and not this" that currently handles things like the selective display of colour order, which is incompatible with the idea of users being able to add new (custom) bus types